Report: Apple News+ changes trouble publishers

 

Some publishers are troubled about Apple News+ intercepting traffic from websites in iOS 14, MacRumors reported.

“Apple did not inform three large publishers about a change in iOS 14 and macOS Big Sur that directs users who tap on an Apple News+ story in Safari to the ‌Apple News‌ app instead of the publisher's website,” said MacRumors, citing a report in AdAge. Two of the publishers are looking at whether they want to continue with the service, said the report.

The Wall Street Journal, meanwhile, is staying with Apple News because the service is bringing in new readers, the New York Post reported.

The paper based its report on comments from WSJ CEO Robert Thomson in an earnings call last week. “That Apple News partnership allows us to focus on that tier of content and bring in a significantly new audience that we would hope to graduate to a paid WSJ subscription over time,” he said. “And it is a genuinely different audience. It’s actually, of late, more women than men. For The Wall Street Journal ­itself, it’s more men than women.”

In June, The New York Times bailed on the service, saying Apple News didn’t align with its strategy of building direct relationships with paying readers.

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